Penny Marshall on Big’s 25th Anniversary and Why She Gave Up Her Courtside Lakers Tickets

Unbelievably it has been 25 years since Tom Hanks plunked those famously oversize F.A.O. Schwartz piano keys in Big. The project was Penny Marshall’s second-ever feature-directing gig, and the Laverne & Shirley star was only able to lure Tom Hanks to the starring role after Robert De Niro expressed interest in the project, piquing the interest of all of the actors (Warren Beatty included) who had passed on the part. With Hanks finally in the lead and Marshall at the helm, the fantasy feature went on to become a box office smash and the first film directed by a female to gross over $100 million. In celebration of Big’s milestone (and the 25th anniversary Blu-ray available this week), Marshall hopped on the phone with VF.com. During the conversation, the filmmaker bluntly revealed why she would not succeed in Hollywood today, why she never directed nude scenes, and why she never wants to be featured on the Lakers Kiss Cam. (Staples Center camera technicians, take note!)

Julie Miller: I can’t believe that you almost cast Robert De Niro star in the Tom Hanks role. I would pay money to see him doing that piano sequence.

Penny Marshall: I would too! Look who’s in all of the comedies now. I’ve known Bobby for years. He has a different sense of humor but he has a sense of humor. It was just that every actor at that point had said, “No!” So I said, “Well I’ll go with a man man then.”

Do you think Bigwould have done as well with Robert De Niro in the role?

Who knows! Bob was one of the premiere actors at the time so I think that [audiences] would have paid to see him in that comedy. I wouldn’t have had him make a Raging Bull face, you know? He was inAwakeningsand he wasn’t mean in Awakenings. And he is really great with telling directors, “Watch all of my films. Tell me what you don’t want to see.”

When you go back to F.A.O. Schwartz these days, do you get any kind of special treatment?

No, I get nothing. And Big is on [television] all of the time. I don’t get any money. I don’t see anything. I did have some back end but I don’t know what it is, just that it’s not much. I was a new director at the time.

That must be frustrating.

Well, I wouldn’t mind [some money] now! I don’t do the movies they do now. Most of the movies I did, I could not do today. Because they’re not horror, they’re not vampires, they’re not car crashes, and they’re not superheroes. I like a nice story. I have a couple of scripts but they won’t get done.

Are they comedies?

Well, they all have comedy in them [muffled]. Sorry, I just took a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the health nut that I am. [Laughs] I’ll just push it to the side. A League of Their Own, I couldn’t have made today. And it’s too bad—because it went into the National Archives this year. But they don’t care. I have a baseball movie about the Negro leagues, the Newark Eagles, but baseball movies don’t sell overseas. And it’s all black—that doesn’t sell overseas either! And I have a soccer one that takes place in Guatemala that was based on an article I read in the newspaper.

You were the first female director to gross over $100 million at the box office. Are you surprised that there aren’t more female directors today?

If you think about it, $100 million at the box office probably means nothing today. But there are plenty of female directors. . . they’re just all in television.

Lena Dunham has emerged as one of the hottest female writer-director-actresses these days. Are you familiar with her work?

Yeah, I met [muffled]. Sorry, there goes another bite of sandwich. I met her. I was at dinner with Lorraine Bracco and Ilene Landress one night at Nobu and Ileen, who is a producer, she was there and brought Lena with her. So we chatted. [Lena] is a very nice girl, a very smart girl.

What do you think of Girls? Do you get a chance to watch a lot of TV?

Oh, I watch a lot of TV. ButGirls is a little nude for me, you know? The nudity, I’m not big on nudity. I personally don’t want to shoot it. Years ago, before I ever directed, when I was still doingLaverne & Shirley, they handed me The Joy of Sexto direct. I had a reading at the house but you know what, I don’t want to watch other people do it. That’s not my thing. I had to go back to Laverne & Shirley anyway so I just said, “I can’t do this.”

You’re a vocal basketball fan. How is your N.B.A. season going?

Basketball is my love. Well I come into New York the night of the 11th so the 12th I am going with Rosie O’Donnell because she got ticket for a [Brooklyn] Nets game because I have not been to the Barclays new center. We did that game show thing [Hollywood Game Night] that Jane Lynch hosted and she had to have me on her team. And I am not good at that because I don’t know any actor under 30.

What about Jennifer Lawrence?

I know who Jennifer Lawrence is but she keeps changing her hair. I know she is very young and talented.

You mentioned that basketball is your love—what is it about basketball that gets you?

I took Fran Lebowitz to a game and she is not a big sports fan. But I took her to a Knicks game. She said, “The amazing thing is that these guys are running back and forth so much that you forget about anything that is disturbing you.” Anything you’re obsessing over goes out of your brain. Now that’s her opinion. I don’t have that many things that are bothering me. But I like to see guys with the least amount of clothes possible. They are great and beautiful players. They are getting younger a little bit. I know now mainly the coaches and the announcers and a couple of the players.

You’re pretty good at avoiding the Jumbotron at Lakers games.

I moved my floor seats because they cost too much. I moved back. And I don’t want to be on the Jumbotron. Jack [Nicholson] I don’t think likes being on that Jumbotron but he sits at that angle. I sat on the basket side but I don’t want to be on the Jumbotron. People go crazy! That kissing thing. They wave! They jump. I’ve been on television. Been there, done that.